1. Field of the Invention
This invention is generally related to closet organizers and particularly to telescoping support racks which are utilized as closet organizers. Such organizers include telescoping article supports or rack assemblies which are carried by slide members movably disposed within a housing which mounts the article supports or rack assemblies relative to the clothes rod or other surface within a closet. The article support rack assembly includes a vertically extending post from which a plurality of pairs of vertically spaced article support arms are pivotally extended thereby enabling pairs of pants, skirts and other types of clothing to be suspended therefrom in an orderly fashion beneath the organizer housing. The housing of the closet organizers may include rearwardly telescoping bracket members for anchoring the organizers to the rear wall of a closet and also include integrally formed V-shaped slots in the upper surface thereof which provide a secure mounting surface for engaging the clothes rod in the closet.
2. History of the Art
There has been a growing emphasis to make more efficient use of closet storage space not only to permit a greater number of clothing articles to be stored in a given area but also to facilitate access to such articles. The need for organized storage units has increased due to the tendency in new building construction to reduce the amount of closet space within dwelling units.
In clothes closets, use has been made of various types of telescoping hangers or racks for supporting articles in movable relationship to the clothes rod. Such racks have often provided structure for supporting a plurality of articles in a space which has heretobefore been utilized to hang a single garment or item.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 227,436 and Des. 277,248 which are currently assigned to the assignee of the present invention, telescoping support racks are disclosed for supporting a plurality of belts, ties and other elongated items in a uniform and organized manner. Such racks are extendable outwardly from a normally stored position beneath housings which are mounted to the clothes rod to positions which are easily accessible thereby facilitating the placement and/or retrieval of articles with respect to the racks. Although such telescoping racks provide structure for organizing the hanging or storage of clothing accessories such as ties, belts, chains and the like, they are not designed to hang or store a plurality of larger and heavier clothing items such as pants or skirts. Other telescoping racks for such clothing accessories as belts, ties and the like are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 273,645, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,945,812 and 3,897,122 to McEvers; 3,389,807 to Manning et al.; 3,124,253 to Petrich; 3,335,872 to Dodich; 2,917,185 to Kovacs; 2,985,311 to Abil; 1,415,316 to Corbin and 2,569,761 to Hibbs. All of the foregoing racks have limited use for storing only selective smaller articles of clothing accessories and none of the references provide any structure for supporting a plurality of vertically arranged articles of clothing beneath a common support assembly.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,585,127, also assigned to the assignee of the present invention, a telescoping closet or garment organizer is disclosed which includes garment and/or shoe bags having a plurality of individual article storage pockets provided thereon. The garment bags are suspended from a telescoping member which is carried by a housing mounted to the clothes rod in a closet. The telescoping member is mounted in suspended relationship beneath the clothes rod and is extendable perpendicularly with respect thereto so as to selectively orient the garment and/or shoe bags outwardly into the passageway of the closet for easy access thereto. Such a garment organizer provides suitable storage space for articles which may be concealed in pockets, however, it does not provide any structure for arranging articles which must be freely suspended in order to avoid wrinkling of the clothing such as when hanging or supporting pants, skirts and other similar articles of clothing.
Another type of garment organizer especially designed for clothing accessories including both narrow and wide accessories such as chains and scarves and the like is disclosed in pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 890,306, filed July 29, 1986 and which is also assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The telescoping organizer disclosed in the copending application provides a rack for supporting relatively wide articles of clothing accessories including scarves and ties and the like in a two-tiered arrangement so as to facilitate an orderly arrangement of a plurality of such articles in a single vertical space. Integrally formed hooks are also provided for hanging chains and belts and the like. As with the prior design applications discussed above, there was no consideration of providing for an orderly arrangement for suspending or supporting larger articles of clothing which must be freely suspended in storage nor was there any consideration of providing multiple tiers of movable supports in a spaced vertical arrangement beneath the clothes rod in a closet.
In addition to the foregoing, in order to stabilize the garment organizers of many prior art structures with respect to the closet clothes rods, it was necessary to provide separate wall mounting brackets which were engagable with channels formed in the organizer housings. Such arrangements require a plurality of separate parts to be packaged and thereafter assembled by the consumer and therefore presented mounting and/or assembly problems especially for individuals who have limited mechanical ability.
Some other examples of prior art closet or garment organizers are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 135,656 to Williams; U.S. Pat. Nos. 862,841 to Newport; 2,355,835 to Whalen; 3,754,664 to Kotkins and 3,550,784 to Batts.